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The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content
Published on: June 29, 2016
Emotional variability and sustained arousal during exposure
Najwa C Culver1, Milena Stoyanova, Michelle G Craske
1UCLA Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. najwa@ucla.edu
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
|November 30, 2011
Summary
Sustained arousal during exposure therapy, not fear reduction, may predict better long-term anxiety outcomes. Variability in fear responses also indicated improved results in public speaking anxiety.
Area of Science:
- Clinical Psychology
- Anxiety Disorders
- Exposure Therapy
Background:
- Traditional exposure therapy uses fear reduction as a learning index.
- Animal models suggest sustained arousal during exposure predicts better long-term outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the effects of sustained arousal during exposure therapy.
- Examine if enhanced fear responding predicts better outcomes in public speaking anxiety.
Main Methods:
- 59 participants with public speaking fear underwent exposure therapy.
- Participants were assigned to exposure with or without additional excitatory stimuli to enhance arousal.
Main Results:
- Group assignment did not significantly predict 1-week follow-up outcomes.
- Sustained arousal and fear variability throughout exposure predicted lower fear at follow-up.
Conclusions:
- The excitatory stimuli did not achieve the intended effect of increasing arousal.
- Sustained arousal and fear variability during exposure may be superior predictors of long-term outcomes compared to fear habituation.
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